Using a Gratitude Journal for the First time
Before I start to talk about starting my gratitude journal, I should get something out of the way. I suffer from depression. I'm not always depressed, but I always have depression. It sucks. It's part of the reason I've started this journey to wellbeing.
Gratitude Journaling for Depression
I've been hearing about gratitude journaling a lot over the last while, particularly since last March when everything changed. For some reason, I've been resistant to it. Last week, I hit an emotional low. Not for any big reason, but probably for a million tiny ones. it's easy to bottom-out on an emotional level these days.
One of the things I've learned about managing my depression (and let's get this straight, I'm not a shrink and I'm not any kind of expert. This is what works for me - mostly - so I'm not saying it will work for you) is to do something. It doesn't mean I need to start some new project. Doing something might just mean getting out of bed or brushing my teeth. Often, it means trying a small part of something new.
Since using a gratitude journal is something I've wanted to try for a while, it's become my latest something. I went online, found a great book discount site, and ordered a journal I found pretty.
How to Choose a Gratitude Journal
The cool thing about a gratitude journal is that it can be anything. In fact, from what I've heard, it can be nothing. It's more about the practice of listing things you're grateful for than actually writing them down. If you're someone who benefits from writing - many of us are - then a book or a file on a phone can be very helpful. This is also very good if you ever want to look back over time - which I'm looking forward to doing.
If you're someone who can just get up in the morning, look out the window with a cup of tea or coffee, watch the sunrise and contemplate the things you're grateful for, identifying a list of, say, five, then that's amazing, too. I wanted a book, and I wanted it to be a special one. So I chose this one. 
Why I Picked the One I Picked
What I like about this gratitude journal:
- It's pretty, so it feels special to use.
- The pages are lined (I'm terrible at writing straight in blank spaces)
- It has a satin ribbon built-in to use as a bookmark
- It's small enough that I could pack it easily if traveling ever becomes a thing again
- It gives me a good feeling overall
Your gratitude journal doesn't need to have any of these attributes. Some people use just a regular notebook or even scrap pieces of paper. I wanted to honour the process of my gratitude journaling. I wanted to turn it into an important ritual. To do that, I wanted the pieces to be different from the types of things I use when I'm at work or when I was in school.
How to Start Gratitude Journaling
It's so, so easy to start gratitude journaling. You can start by buying a journal, of course, but as I said earlier, you can use anything or even nothing if that's your style. To actually begin the practice, here are the steps:
- Decide on a frequency - Are you hoping to do this daily? Weekly? From everything I've read, committing to a frequency helps to build it as a habit. You can always change the frequency, but committing to it is important. I'm starting with weekly, so I don't overwhelm myself by pushing myself to do too much.
- Decide on a time of day - Some people like doing it first thing in the morning to start the day with the right mindset. Some people fit it where they can. I like doing it in the evening so I spend the day looking through a lens of gratitude. It helps me to keep up the mindset all day long so the benefits aren't just at the specific time that I'm journaling.
- Pick a number - I've chosen the number 5. To be honest, I picked it because it's what other people I read about where using when I researched how to start a gratitude journal. You could pick 2, 7 or whatever you want. I like 5 because it means there are enough that I'll need to keep thinking about it to come up with that number, but it also means that the 5 I choose will need to be good ones, because if I think of 6, one of them won't make the cut. It's still beneficial, because I've thought of 6, but my main focus is on the absolute best ones.
- Make it a lifestyle - Use a gratitude journal as a part of an overall wellbeing lifestyle. For the last week, I've been thinking about what I will write in my journal. Because of that, writing it down in my pretty book is only the final step. The practice is all week long. It's starting to adjust the way I think. I can see why people rave about this. It really is amazing, and the benefits seem to start pretty much right away.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out. I'll be sure to update, especially on social media. Be sure to check me out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
